The following figure shows the MSP430 software development flow.
1) The shaded portion highlights the most common development path; the other portions are optional.
2) The other portions are peripheral functions that enhance the development process.
• The C/C++ compiler accepts C/C++ source code and produces MSP430 machine code object modules.
• The assembler translates assembly language source files into machine language object modules.
• The linker combines object files into a single executable object module.
• The archiver allows you to collect a group of files into a single archive file, called a library.
• The library information archiver allows you to create an index library of several object file library variants.
• You can use the library-build utility to build your own customized run-time-support library.
• The hex conversion utility converts object files to TI-Tagged, ASCII-Hex, Intel, Motorola-S, or Tektronix object format.
• The absolute lister uses linked object files to create .abs files.
• The cross-reference lister uses object files to produce a cross-reference listing showing symbols, their definition, and their references.
• The main product of this development process is a executable object file that can be executed in a MSP430 device.